Photos by Mark Harris

The first round of the Welsh Conference Premier 2009 was played as part of the Scott McRorie 9s tournament. The annual season opener kicked off at St Albans RFC with some emphatic wins in appalling conditions.

Blue Bulls 22 Titans 4

The torrential rain fell as the Bridgend Blue Bulls overcame the Newport Titans 22-4 in a game that was mistake ridden primarily due to the slippery conditions.  The first mistake came from the kick off and the Titans capitalised as James Powell dived in giving his side the 4-0 lead.  The Blue Bulls immediately responded with two quick tries of their own from Matthew Hutchins and Carl Davies. Both were converted by Jamie Murphy giving the bulls a 12-4 lead.  Just before the break they added another from Dan Smith and with another conversion from Murphy took the half time score to 18-4.

As the rain got heavier the mistakes from both sides mounted with knock-ons a plenty. Midway through the half Carl Davies added his second try of the game which remained unconverted and proved to be the final score of the game.  The Blue Bulls winning 22-4.

Demons 14 Steelers 0

The second game of the tournament was a low scoring game again due to a greasy ball in terrible conditions and saw Demons continue their winning ways against the Steelers winning by 14-0.

The first half seemed to see the ball on the ground more than in hand but an inspired run by hooker Tom Jones saw the Demons take a 4-0 lead at the break.

The second  half left off where the first began but it was again the Demons who took the initiative with a deft kick over the top pounced on by Jamie Chapman under the posts to extend the lead.  Doug Hann added the extras giving the Demons a 10 point lead.

On the final play of the game the Demons had success using the same ploy with

Shane Goddard kicking on and diving on the ball to give the Demons the 14-0 win.

Bulldogs 44 Sharks 0


As the sun came out for the third game of the tournament Blackwood Bulldogs showed that they would be a force this season running in 44 unanswered points against a weakened Dinefwr Sharks.

A brace of first half tries from Kristian Perry and one from Gareth Dare along with the pick of the bunch from David James gave the Bulldogs a commanding lead.  Conversions from Perry and James gave the Bulldogs a 22-0 lead at the break.

The second half saw the Sharks get close to a score but a knock on over the line denied them.  This seemed to spur on the Bulldogs who put on a clinical display with scores from Lewis Hayman, Chris Winnel, Matt Williams and a second for David James sealed the win.  Conversions came from Winnel, Williams and James bringing the final score to 44-0 taking Blackwood to the top of the table after the first round.

The newly formed Wild Boars were unable to raise a team on the day so Torfaen Tigers claimed a 24-0 win

Scott McRorie 9s tournament
After the preliminary round the remainder of the tournament was contested by six teams after the Blackwood Bulldogs withdrew and saw the Valley Cougars win the final in a thriller clinching the trophy with the last kick of the game.

Cardiff Demons who have won the tournament on the last two occasions were eliminated in the early stages with losses at the hands of the Valley Cougars, Torfaen Tigers, Bridgend Blue Bulls and Newport Titans.

After the round robin stage Newport Titans took on the Torfaen Tigers for the 3rd & 4th place shield.  After an initial surge by the Tigers the Titans took a stranglehold on the game which they never released running out 18-4 winners.

In an exciting final where the lead changed hands no less than four times it took the final kick of the game from Valley Cougars Paul Emanuelli to take the trophy back to Nelson beating the Bridgend Blue Bulls 22-20.

article by Mark Harris
16 May 2009

Results Round Robin

Demons 14 Steelers 0
Titans 4 Blue Bulls 22
Tigers 24 Wild Boars 0
Sharks 0 Bulldogs 44
Demons 8 Valley Cougars 12
Tigers 18 Sharks 8
Tigers 18 Blue Bulls 24
Titans 22 Sharks 18
Valley Cougars 23 Titans 10
Sharks 8 Blue Bulls 26
Demons 10 Blue Bulls 24
Demons 4 Tigers 10
Valley Cougars 10 Tigers 10
Sharks 8 Valley Cougars 22

Sheild Final

Tigers 4 Titans 18

Cup Final

Valley Cougars 22 Blue Bulls 20